New Delhi, April 21: India has never posed a threat to any country or society and it thinks for the welfare of the entire world even today amid global conflicts, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday, asserting the country is following the ideals of Sikh gurus.
Addressing an event from the Red Fort to celebrate the 400th birth anniversary of Sikh Guru Tegh Bahadur, Modi said the Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib near the Red Fort stands as a symbol of the sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur.
Citing other efforts made by his government for the community, including its decision to observe Veer Bal Diwas on December 20 to commemorate the sacrifice of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons, Modi said the Citizenship (Amendment) Act has paved the way for granting citizenship to families of Sikhs and other minorities that have come to India from neighbouring countries.
“All this was possible because the Gurus have taught us to give primacy to humanity. Love and harmony are part of our values,” said the prime minister who has been regularly engaging with the Sikh community.
The government has shown its commitment to ‘guru seva’ by constructing the Kartarpur Sahib corridor for which people had been waiting for decades, he said.
“This holy gurudwara reminds us how great was the sacrifice of Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji to protect our great culture. At that time, there was a storm of religious fanaticism in the country. India, which considered religion as a matter of philosophy, science and self-reflection, was facing people who had committed violence and atrocities in the name of religion,” Modi said.
At that time, there was great hope for India to save its identity in the form of Guru Tegh Bahadur, he noted.
“In front of Aurangzeb’s tyrannical thinking, Guru Tegh Bahadur Ji, becoming ‘Hind di Chadar’, stood like a rock,” Modi said.
The Red Fort is a witness that Aurangzeb and tyrants like him might have beheaded countless people “but our faith could not be separated from us”, the prime minister said. (PTI)
